A goal is a dream with a deadline.

THE HINDU Imp. News Feb.21ST 2012 FRONT PAGE Centre rules out bailout, Kingfisher blames it on I-T: The prime reason for the current disruption in our flight schedules is the sudden attachment of our bank accounts by the I-T department. This has severely affected our ability to make operational payments, leading to the present curtailment,'' Kingfisher spokesperson Prakash Mirpuri said in a statement. We are in dialogue with the tax authorities to agree upon a payment plan and get the bank accounts unfrozen at the earliest. We are appealing to them to see reason that inconvenience to the travelling public is not in anybody's interest.'' IAEA talks could ease Iran tensions: A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in Tehran for talks that promise to start a process, which could help ease tensions between Iran and the West. On Sunday, Iran announced that it was suspending oil exports to Britain and France, which have been at the forefront of targeting Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, Iran's key ally. Nitish joins chorus against NCTC plan: Eleven State Chief Ministers have so far written to Dr. Singh opposing the plan to institute the agency, which is expected to be operational from March 1. In a strongly worded letter, Mr. Kumar termed the entire process flawed, chiefly because the agency would come under the Intelligence Bureau, which is not accountable to Parliament. Arguing that the State police had been providing the Central government agencies with valuable operational support on a case-to-case basis, he said the order did not specify the kind of assistance expected from the civil authorities. Mr. Kumar also questioned the need for creating such new centres with provisions to arbitrarily trample upon the existing constitutional safeguards designed to protect the balance of power between the Centre and the States. Rumour' behind Gujarat temple stampede: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced an immediate relief of Rs. 1 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed and Rs. 25,000 to each of the injured in the stampede near the Bhavnath Shiva temple in Junagadh. Seven persons were killed and over 40 injured in the incident on Sunday.
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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Five planets to be visible in rare event: In a rare celestial coincidence, five planets, including the Saturn, will be visible in the night for two weeks from February 23. EDITORIAL India's destiny not caste in stone: Many are now coming to believe that, despite the undeniable demographic, technological and economic changes taking place in the country, the division into castes and communities remains the ineluctable and ineradicable feature of Indian society. They also believe that to ignore those divisions or to draw attention to other divisions such as those of income, education and occupation is to turn our backs on the ground reality. The more radical among them add that ignoring those realities amounts to an evasion of the political responsibility of redistributing the benefits and burdens of society in a more just and equitable manner. The leaders of the nationalist movement who successfully fought for India's freedom from colonial rule believed that India may have been a society of castes and communities in the past but would become a nation of citizens with the adoption of a new republican constitution. They were too optimistic. The Constitution did create rights for the citizen, but it did not eradicate caste from the hearts and minds of the citizens it created. For many Indians, and perhaps the majority, the habits of the heart are still the habits of a hierarchical society. Democracy was expected to efface the distinctions of caste, but its consequences have been very different from what was expected. Politics is no doubt an important part of a nation's life in a democracy, but it is not the only part of it. There are other areas of life in which the consciousness of caste has been dying down, though not very rapidly or dramatically. The trends of change which I will now examine do not catch the attention of the media because they happen over long stretches of time, in slow motion as it were. In the past, restrictions on inter-dining were closely related to restrictions on marriage according to the rules of caste. The restrictions on marriage have not disappeared, but they have eased to some extent. Among Hindus, the law imposed restrictions on inter-caste marriage. The law has changed, but the custom of marrying within the caste is still widely observed. However, what is happening is that other considerations such as those of education and income are also kept in mind in arranging a match. At any rate, it will be difficult to argue that caste consciousness in matrimonial matters has been on the rise in recent decades. The consciousness of caste is brought to the fore at the time of elections. Elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas are now held all the year round. For logistical and other reasons, elections to even the Vidhan Sabhas may be stretched out over several weeks. There are byelections in addition to the general elections. Election campaigns have become increasingly spectacular and increasingly costly, and they often create the atmosphere of a carnival. The mobilisation of electoral support on the basis of caste is a complex phenomenon whose outcome gives scope for endless speculation. The average villager devotes far more thought
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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

and time to home, work and worship than to electoral matters. It is well known that the voter turnout among urban professional Indians is low. But even when they do not participate in the elections to the extent of visiting their local polling booths, they participate in them vicariously by following on television what happens in the outside world. Television provides a large dose of entertainment along with a modicum of political education. The Railways need funds: The Kakodkar high-level railway safety review committee, which submitted its recommendations to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Friday, It may not have said anything new or different from the past but it has chosen to tell the Railways how to mobilise the funds for a long overdue, massive safety upgrade programme over the next five years, with an estimate for Rs.1 lakh crore. What needs to be done for toning up railway safety is already well known: modern signalling, doing away with unmanned level crossings, replacing over-aged assets, and even introducing a new generation of coaches. After Nitish Kumar brought the Railways back from the brink, and Lalu Prasad took all the credit for prudent financial management, Mamata Banerjee had virtually brought the Indian Railways to a situation of a financial collapse. Even now, her nominee in Rail Bhavan, Dinesh Trivedi, seems utterly unwilling to raise passenger fares. For 10 years, there has been no revision. And he expects the Finance Minister to grant him a budget support of Rs.20,000 crore or more next month. It is time the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry took a serious look at the state of the Railways. For if India's biggest employer is unwilling to take even small steps towards better managing its finances, there is no sense in it having a separate annual budget. For oil and peace, India must stand up in the two Sudans: India's trade and investment in Africa has soared to amazing heights in recent years with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledging $5 billion for development initiatives at last year's IndiaAfrica Summit. Today, there is no better place to take India's African engagement forward than in helping Sudan and South Sudan find a lasting peace. Since South Sudan won its independence from Sudan last year, a dispute over oil is edging the former foes closer to reigniting one of Africa's longest and deadliest wars. When South Sudan broke off, it took three quarters of Sudan's oil with it. But Sudan still controls the only existing pipeline route out to international markets. South Sudan's plans to build an alternative pipeline to Kenya will probably take two years to realize. In the meantime, the two sides have been locked in heated negotiations over the transit fee Sudan should receive, but remain in stalemate. Since India's leading national oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) set foot in Sudan in 2003 it has invested over $2.5 billion. But South Sudan's shutdown of its 350,000 barrel-daily production dealt a major blow to the company's overseas oil ambitions. For much of the past decade, over half of its international oil production has come from Sudan, and with it, an ample share of its profits. Beyond oil Sudan has also been a major international destination for India's Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. through a $450 million power plant investment. The Indian ExportJoin us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/indiancivils/ Page 3

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Import Bank has dispatched over $550 million in lines of credit to projects contracted to India Inc. in Sudan. Bajaj auto-rickshaws are a common sight on the capital Khartoum's congested streets as Indian exports have gained a foothold. However, the Sudanese government has been dithering on repaying the loans, particularly after it lost the majority of its oil wealth. War between the two Sudans puts India's investments in even further jeopardy. India has a cherished history in Africa. Jawaharlal Nehru helped Africa break its colonial chains and South Africa wrestle free of apartheid's oppression. But if India truly wants to make a unique mark, it must roll up its sleeves and lend a hand in ending Africa's longstanding conflicts. It's time for India to heed the call and stand up in the two Sudans. Seeding a farm policy without the dirt on climate change: A recent international conference on climate change and sustainable agriculture in New Delhi brought forth the shocking realisation that there are no conclusive studies in India on the prospective impact of climate change on the agriculture sector including livestock and fisheries. Much of the country's understanding comes from global data provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Meteorological Organisation and other world bodies. The conference theme paper contained the following admission: The climate system is extremely complex and poorly understood in terms of extent, timing and impact. Thus, the knowledge and understanding of implications of climate change at the national level is inadequate and fragmentary. The statement is telling, coming as it does from the organisers the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and non-government institute, National Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership; the government has entrusted the ICAR with the task of coming up with mitigation and adaptation technologies. For years, the 80 per cent small and marginal farmers with a landholding of less than an acre have delivered in the face of natural calamities and adapted to poor irrigation, unaffordable credit, lack of proper crop and self insurance and un-remunerative price for the crop. Going by the limited studies put forward by the ICAR, the drought in 2002 affected food production by 10 per cent; the cold wave in January 2003 hit cultivation of mustard, mango, guava, papaya, brinjal, tomato and potato. High rainfall in 1998 and 2005 affected kharif and late kharif onion crop, resulting in price hike. But the issue is: can these single-year events be quoted as examples of long-term climate change? In general terms, the ICAR says that continuous higher temperatures during critical growth stages of rabi crops reduces yields considerably . This is not borne by the increase in wheat production that has gone up over a decade from 69.68 million tonnes in 2000-2001 to a record 88.31 million tonnes in 201112.

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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

The simple requirement of farmers on the ground in States like Punjab and Haryana is advanced and accurate information on weather. They want quick movement of kharif stock so that they can bring forward the sowing of rabi-wheat. But the government has done precious little towards this. Coastal States situated along the 7,500-km coastline seek policies to sustain productive and protective habitats such as mangroves, coral reefs wetlands and fisheries. Hilly States want development of traditional forest land from which they draw green feeds and grasses to indigenously manage natural resources. High-altitude States, which face droughts, frosts, torrential rains and landslides, prefer integrated soil and watershed management in a farming system mode to sustain them through the year. Still sprouting after 32,000 years: For the first time ever, scientists have been able to grow ancient flowering plants ( Silene stenophylla ) from immature fruit tissues buried 38 metres under the North-eastern Siberian ice deposits about 32,000 years ago. The tissues were recovered from the burrow of a ground squirrel. The regenerated plants flowered and also produced seeds. These seeds were in turn able to grow into plants that were identical to the parent plants. If immature tissues and organs are known to be more regenerative than mature ones, this study published today (February 21) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal has proved it conclusively. They used tissue culture and micropropagation to make the immature placental tissue grow into healthy and sexually reproducing plants. Interestingly, S. stenophylla (perennial herbaceous plant from the family Caryophyllaceae) has not gone extinct. At present, plants of S. stenophylla are the most ancient, viable, multicellular, living organisms, the authors noted. Hence scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia, were able to grow the ancient plants and compare them with those found in the same region. The ancient plants and those still in existence (extant) were morphologically identical till the flowering stage. Differences cropped up only when the plants started flowering. The petals of the plants found today were wider and dissected, and all the flowers were bisexual. However, the petals of the ancient plants were narrower, and the primary flowers were strictly female, followed by bisexual flowers that formed later. The study helped understand the rate of microevolution in the plants. About 70 fossil burrows have been found in the region, of which more than 30 have been investigated. The burrows contain invaluable supply of plant seeds and fruits. The number of seeds and fruits reaches up to 600,000 to 800,000 in some chambers, they wrote. Squirrel burrows with seeds deposited around the same time have been identified in Alaska and Yukon as well. This indicates that the whole of Beringia has a great potential as storage of ancient life preserved in permafrost, the authors underlined.

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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

INTERNATIONAL U.S. warns Israel against Iran strike: After years of relentlessly seeking to bring the weight of international pressure against Iran through sanctions, the US and other Western powers appeared to be backing off from a hawkish view against that country as they cautioned Israel against launching a direct strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Destabilising Speaking to CNN 's Farid Zakaria over the weekend General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said such an air strike was not prudent at this point and would be destabilising. The General's comments came even as the public discourse against Iran has heated up in the West and the prospect of an Israeli airstrike has gained salience in certain policy circles. His remarks also come in the wake of similar comments by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who was quoted saying that the potential attack, which could reportedly involve as many 100 Israeli jets in a complex and dangerous operation, was not a wise thing at this moment. Both senior officials spoke even as representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tehran on Monday for further talks with Iran on its alleged nuclear activities. In China, a police chief with no policing background: The appointment of a new police chief in the south-western municipality of Chongqing, in the wake of a political scandal that has cast doubt on the future of one of China's rising political stars, reflected the growing influence of a powerful party faction ahead of this year's leadership transition, analysts said. The new police chief, Guan Haixiang, replaced Wang Lijun, who earlier this month appeared at the United States Consulate in Chengdu reportedly seeking asylum after falling out with his former boss, the Chongqing party chief and Politburo member Bo Xilai. According to reports, Mr. Wang, who rose to national prominence following a corruption crackdown that brought down more than 1,500 officials, was himself the subject of an investigation by central authorities. President Hu Jintao himself spent three years working for the CYL in the early 1980s. Mr. Guan served at the CYL during the same time as Vice Premier Li Keqiang, and according to reports in the media worked as his secretary. Several media reports also said Mr. Guan was the son-in-law of State Councillor Liu Yandong, who spent a decade at the CYL. Pakistan again summons U.S. official over Balochistan: For the second time in a week, the U.S. Charge d'Affaires was called to the Foreign Office on Monday to register Pakistan's strong protest over American Congressmen's interventions on Balochistan. And on the streets of Islamabad, hardline groups held a protest meeting against U.S. interference in Pakistan's internal affairs. Pakistan has reacted sharply to the resolution
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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by three members asserting Balochistan's right to self-determination. The resolution was introduced by Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher who had earlier this month chaired the exclusive hearing held by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations on human rights violations in Balochistan. Meanwhile, hardline right wing organisations that have banded together under the banner of the newly formed Difa-e-Council Pakistan held a protest meeting in Islamabad where they threatened death to America''. Among those on the platform set up at Abpara junction near the headquarters of the ISI was Maulana Sami-ul-Haq who is regarded as the father of the Taliban' as he heads the Darul Uloom Haqqani, the alma mater of the Taliban leadership including Mullah Omar. Pullout , Kyrgyzstan tells U.S.Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev told visiting U.S. officials that all foreign troops must be withdrawn from the Manas international airport in 2014. Speaking about U.S. military presence in the republic the head of state said no foreign military contingent should be in the Manas Civil Airport after the summer of 2014, the presidential press service said in a statement on Mr. Atambayev's meeting in Bishkek on Monday with a U.S. delegation headed by Susan Elliott, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. The U.S. airbase, established at Manas in December 2001, serves as a vital transit hub for U.S. troops and aircraft involved in the NATO Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Mr. Atambayev first called for shutting down the U.S. base after his election as Kyrgyz President last November. Drought declared in south and eastern England: To many, the idea that a country where it seems to be always raining could face drought might appear odd, but on Monday several parts of Britain were officially declared to be facing drought with groundwater levels in some areas falling to alarmingly low levels after two consecutive dry winters. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced that much of southern and eastern England was now in a state of drought as the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman held a drought summit'' of farmers, experts and water companies to discuss the situation said to be particularly serious in south-east England, East Anglia and the East Midlands with some rivers having already dried up. Warning that more areas could be affected, Ms Spelman said: Drought is already an issue this year with the South East, Anglia and other parts of the UK now officially in drought, and more areas are likely to be affected as we continue to experience a prolonged period of very low rainfall. It is not just the responsibility of government, water companies and businesses to act against drought. We are asking for the help of everyone by urging them to use less water and to start now. She appealed to the people to save water as experts called for a long-term plan but opinion was divided on ``piping'' water from the wet and water-rich north to the dry south-east of England because of the huge
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A goal is a dream with a deadline.

cost involved. Water companies favoured more interconnections between regional water networks arguing it would be cheaper than individual companies augmenting their own resources. The wildlife charity WWF accused the government of dragging its feet. Agony, ecstasy over Windows' logo: Microsoft itself appeared somewhat defensive about it, with Sam Moreau, Principal Director of user experience for Microsoft, writing a column in his blog titled, It's a window, not a flag. Mr. Moreau however added that his company wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style. Using bold flat colours and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of wayfinding design systems seen in airports and subways, Mr. Moreau noted of the logo's wider visual appeal, explaining that the idea was to align the logo with the basic style of Windows 8 itself, which he said was fast and fluid... [and the logo is] humble, yet confident. Some industry experts however clearly did not share Mr. Moreau's enthusiasm about the logo. Forbes magazine's E.D. Kain wrote, It's hard for me to see how this is a great leap forward in design from the Windows 1.0 logo... I realise that this is all very much a matter of taste, but to me the blue window panel in the original is more eye-catching than the tilted blue panel in the Windows 8 version. In a similar vein VentureBeat's Sean Ludwig said, It's a simple one-colour logo that emphasises Windows 8's simple design, but it's so bland that it doesn't convey anything important about the new operating system. Likewise, ZDNet's Larry Dignan remarked, The Windows 8 logo gives me a window, but I want to jump out of it. Such acerbic criticism notwithstanding the very fact of intense debate and scrutiny surrounding the new logo however suggests that Microsoft's grip on the global computing market is as strong as it has ever been. BUSINESS PMO meet on exploration delays in NELP blocks: With the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry's spat with the Defence Ministry and the Department of Space remaining unresolved, a worried Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has convened an urgent meeting on February 27 on the delay in carrying out exploration activities in blocks under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and also delay in announcing NELP-IX round. Interestingly, the meeting notice issued by Prabhat Kumar, Joint Secretary in the PMO to Joint Secretary (Exploration), A. Giridhar, has sought specific details about ENI operated ANDWN-2003/2 (NELP-V). The AN-DWN-2003/2 block was offered under NELP-V and was awarded to ENI-ONGC-GAIL consortium. The PMO had, in January, also held a meeting to discuss the issue of oil and gas blocks that had been hanging fire for want of clearances by the Deference
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Ministry and the Department of Space but nothing concrete had emerged out of that meeting with all sides maintaining their stand on the issue of nearly 19 blocks. Tikona Infinet to explore enterprise data services market: Broadband and IT service provider Tikona Digital Networks (TDN) on Monday said it has completed the 100 per cent acquisition of HCL Infinet, the data services arm of HCL, by way of purchase of equity. The new entity, Tikona Infinet (TI), will jumpstart TDN's entry into the rapidly-expanding enterprise data services market. Tikona Infinet combines the network assets, organisational capabilities and customer base of TDN and HCL Infinet. New consumer price index today: Starting Tuesday, the government will release the nation-wide Consumer Price Index (CPI) on a monthly basis for better reflection of retail price movement and to help the Reserve Bank of India take effective monetary policy steps to deal with inflation. The new CPI, according to experts, will eventually replace the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for policy actions to deal with the price situation. The monthly CPI will be in addition to the three retail price indices for agricultural labourers, rural labourers and industrial workers prepared by the Ministry of Labour. Page 18 In rare occurrence, Venus & Jupiter coming very close on February 25: In a rather not-so-common astronomical occurrence, Venus and Jupiter will come very close to each other in the western part of the sky and be joined by a crescent moon, the three celestial bodies forming a kind of triangle on February 25. According to B.G. Sidharth, Director-General of the B.M. Birla Science Centre, the two planets, already visible to the naked eye, will keep coming closer after February 25. Brightest Mars This phenomenon will be followed by Mars rising from the east on March 3. In fact, the red planet will be at opposition when the Sun sets in the west. Around this time, it will be the closest to the earth in a period of 12 months, and also brightest. Mr. Sidharth said planet Saturn would also be visible.

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